WHAT’S HAPPENING AT THE BARN SWALLOWS CAPITAL OF   

 SOUTH AFRICA? Feb 2010
World Famous Barn Swallow Site 

An update on the Barn Swallows of Mount Moreland 

by Hilary Vickers with illustrations by Angie Wilken

Please visit www.barnswallow.co.za for more news

The Barn Swallow, previously known as, the European Swallow, is a widespread and common summer visitor to Southern Africa. It is regarded as the announcer of spring/summer in both the northern and southern hemispheres. It is one of the best known migrants in the world.

In South Africa the best place to see barn swallows en masse is at the Mt Moreland Roost in the Lake Victoria Wetland.  Mt Moreland is a small settlement situated on two hills approximately 40 metres above sea-level. It lies 34 kilometres north of Durban on South Africa’s east coast and 5 kilometres inland from the coastal town of Umdloti. The Swallow view-site co-ordinates are: -  29 38.548 S/031 055.12 E   

The wetland, Lake Victoria, is 35.5 hectares. It is 15 metres above sea-level at the foot of Mount Moreland village, on the south west side, in the Umdloti River valley. Lake Victoria wetland hosts South Africa’s largest Barn Swallow roost. At the height of the swallow season an estimated 3 million tiny Barn Swallows can be seen swirling over the wetland roost before diving into bed on the reeds below. This amazing phenomenon can be witnessed from October until the middle of April against backdrops varying from brilliant sunsets to dramatic storm clouds. Visit the swallow view-site and witness the awe inspiring sight for yourselves.

The public view-site, overlooking the wetland roost, is run by the Lake Victoria Conservancy, a group made up of environmentally minded Mt Moreland residents. The Conservancy was registered with Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, the Province’s main wildlife agency, in 1995. However, the view-site only came into being four seasons ago, in 2006. Its sole purpose is to highlight the plight of the swallows and their wetland roost in face of the development of the new King Shaka International Airport. Setting themselves up as custodians of the Barn Swallows founder members of the Conservancy, Angie Wilken and Ted Vickers, and current Chairperson, Hilary Vickers had consistent input into the year long Environmental Impact Assessment for this greenfields airport development. All three are still very much involved. The King Shaka International Airport opens on 1 May 2010 and replaces Durban’s current international airport. ACSA’s , (Airport Company South Africa), Swallow and Wetlands Forum will continue into the operational phase and the three Conservancy representatives will continue to represent the Barn Swallows and their Roost as well as Mt Moreland's two precious wetlands, Lake Victoria and Froggy Swamp..

Ted Vickers was the first Mount Moreland resident to record the Barn Swallow movements. Over the last 15 years he has been recording the arrival and departure dates of the swallows, something that has, to our knowledge, never been done on a regular basis anywhere before in southern Africa. Long before the current ringing programme was set in place he encouraged ringers to visit and ring swallows from the Mt Moreland Roost. Ted’s data has been incorporated into a scientific paper, Migration, moult and climate change in barn swallows - Hirundo rustica in South Africa by A.P. Moller, R.Nuttall, S.E. Piper, T. Szep, E. J.(Ted) Vickers.

Angie, graphic artist/photographer and computer whiz and Hilary, ex museum educator and media and events co-ordinator have been at the heart of establishing a view-site overlooking the swallow wetland and organizing a ringing programme.  The reasoning behind this was to:-

·         highlight the plight of the barn swallows in face of the airport and

·         to contribute through observation to our knowledge of them at this site.

It has already been noted these two ‘swallow custodians’, along with Ted's technical input, also carried the load of administrative work involved in representing the Swallows and the Wetlands in the E.I.A and at subsequent meetings with the main role players – ACSA, the developer; Tongaat Hulett Property, the property owners; eThekwini, the Durban Metro council; and other government departments. Both Angie and Hilary, also man the swallow view-site from October to April where they sell information booklets; CD swallow jigsaws and other swallow memorabilia that they have created. All promotional/educational talks, fliers, media releases and fundraising are also undertaken by them. What drives them? Passion, and something that has grown into a

life changing adventure and challenge.

The Conservancy also runs the Gazebo, the community meeting place on the village green opposite the view-site. In return the Conservancy uses it to raise funds to cover the maintenance of the building, the village green and the view-site. It is hired out to groups for events - from corporate meetings to children’s parties. Two gardeners are employed by the Conservancy to keep the area clean and free of rubbish while Conservancy volunteers assist with the specific maintenance of the buildings, furniture and signage. A recycling project has also recently been established.

Achievements resulting from the swallow ringing are best described by Andrew:-

My father and I have been doing regular monthly ringing sessions at the (Lake Victoria Roost) site to try and find out where the birds migrate to in the northern hemisphere. Recently I have also been studying the recapture data of the Barn Swallows from the SAFRING database at the Avian Demographic Unit  (University of Capetown). This has shown some very interesting movements of the birds in Southern Africa 

This last season (Oct 2007 – April 2008) we caught and ringed 331 swallows during seven weekends at the Mt Moreland Roost, over a 6 month period. Unfortunately the bad weather during the season played havoc with our sessions and during many weekends only one ringing session took place instead of the planned two.  

However, there was great excitement on 13 December 2008 when our ringing efforts were repaid tenfold. It happened at 22h30 when we were back at the Vickers house finishing processing that evening’s 105 swallow catch. We were about half way through the birds when Ted passed my father the ‘holding bag’ with the next bird in it. My father removed the bird carefully and then, looking at it rounded on Ted. 

    “Hey, this bird has a ring on it. What are you doing man, you have taken it from the ringed group of bird bags – the ones we have already done. Give me one from the unringed bags.” 

     “Hang on, Dad,” I interrupted, “Check the ring.” 

     “Oh, yes, it has something ‘…land’ on it. England, I think.” 

     “Let me look,” I said taking the bird from him. I checked, looking carefully. It's Finland! Helsinki, Finland.” 

What a moment! As ringers it was our first recapture of a foreign bird and, as importantly, the very first recapture of a foreign bird from the Mt Moreland Roost. Needless to say in the absence of champagne a few celebratory cold beers were cracked open that night.  

Through the services of SAFRING we knew within a few days that the bird, number 136952V, was ringed as a nestling bird on a farm near Nilsia in Finland. The farm owner had ringed it while still in the nest on 23 July 2008. At about 3 months of age it had flown a straight line distance of more than 10 300 kilometres to reach Mt Moreland.  

Since this has been written the swallows have been back to Europe and returned yet again to South Africa with the very first arrival being logged by Ted in late September 2009. This is the last swallow season without aeroplanes thundering overhead. The 1 May 2010, when The King Shaka International Airport opens, creeps ever closer. The runway is only 2.6 kilometres north of the roost and the flight path skims across the lower end of the Roost. Although there are concerns for the many bird species that use the coastal corridor on which the airport is situated, the main threat identified as far as the Barn Swallows are concerned will come from low incoming planes in the evenings at the same time as the swallows return to roost.

Resulting from the E.I.A process and representations made by the Lake Victoria Conservancy and BirdlifeSA various management schemes have been put in place to benefit and protect the swallows. This includes a specially designed radar imported from the USA to detect swallow flocks. It will give early warning should any flocks of swallows move into the flight path. If necessary the pilot will be able to follow an avoidance procedure. As mentioned the danger of this happening is really only in the sunset and sunrise when swallows swarm and display around Mt Moreland. With the swallows moving in dense flocks this is when the most damage could be done. There are, thank goodness, mitigating circumstances. The main one is that the airport and runway are 300 feet higher than the reedbeds, Lake Victoria and Froggy Swamp which is on the north side of Mt Moreland, even closer to the airport. While the birds fly over both wetlands before going down to roost they do not often fly very high. As a result it is hoped the Barn Swallows will not often move into the incoming flight path.

The other main contribution made by ACSA to the preservation of the wetlands and Roost has been the management of storm-water runoff. In certain places they have adjusted drainage and, in others, built attenuation dams to prevent damage to the wetlands and the Roost. Substantial increase in water run-off from the tarmac and roofing during storm events is anticipated. Needless to say ACSA has also put in various monitoring systems particularly with regard to pollution spills of aviation fuel, chemicals and sewerage. According to the Record of Decision, a legal obligation, ACSA has to maintain the Roost as suitable for the Barn Swallows.

The world famous Barn Swallow site and Roost has extra protection in that it is being watched internationally. BirdlifeSA, through Birdlife International, have had it declared an I.B.A – Important Bird Area - as it holds over 1% of the World’s Barn Swallow population. As such, and as a transition roost as well as hosting a permanent number of swallows throughout the season, it warrants special protection. A disaster to the Barn Swallow population here could impact severely on the breeding numbers right across Europe.

In spite of the steps taken the question remains –

Will this Natural Wonder, National Treasure and shared Global Asset of over 3 million Barn Swallows be safe? 

It remains to be seen if enough has been done to save the Barn Swallows, their Roost and the two wetlands, Lake Victoria and Froggy Swamp, at Mt Moreland. Although the King Shaka International Airport opens on the 1^st May 2010 the degree of the impact on the swallows will only be apparent when they return from their breeding grounds in the northern hemisphere in October 2010.

During the interval the Lake Victoria Conservancy hopes to move forward with even further protection of the wetlands and Barn Swallows.  We thank all those thousands of people – we have not reached the ‘millions’ like the swallows yet - from around South Africa and across the World who have been to see the Barn Swallows at Mt Moreland  and who have given us support.

We invite everyone to keep watching through our website and support our ongoing quest to protect the Barn Swallows and the rich diversity of all life in the wetlands of Mt Moreland.

For every living species we harm we are ultimately harming ourselves.

Hilary Vickers

Photographs by Angie Wilken.

February 2010.